Utility holder



March 17, 1942. c. H. MANZLER UTILITY HOLDER Filed June 2, 1941 FIG 2[1V VEN TOR Patented Mar. 17, 1942 UNITED STATES UTILITY HOLDER ClarenceH. Manzler, Rochester, N. Y. Application June 2, 1941, Serial No.396,247

4 Claims. (01. 24-85) v I This invention relates to utility holders foruse on both straight and curved walls and the invention has for itsprincipal object to provide a holder which is especially adapted for usein automobiles and provides a plurality of clamping means for thesimultaneous support of one or more articles spaced from each otherand'held clamped in place so that each article will be individuallysupported for manipulation and use without affecting the attachment ofanother article supported by the holder.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel construction fora utility holder in which the clamping member cooperates with asupporting member to removably hold an article 0011- tainer in apredetermined position for the convenient removal of the articles withinthe container.

These and other objects and attendant advantages of the invention willbecome more readily apparent from the detailed description thereof whichfollows, reference being had to the accompanying drawing in which Figure1 is a side elevation of the utility holder with a package of cigarettesand a book of matches predeterminedly held in place thereby.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the holder.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of a modified form of the holder.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of a modified form of the holder.

The holder, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, is made up from a singlepiece of sheet stock which is bent back on itself at the top in a loop Iand thus provides the anchoring strap 2 at the back of the supportingstrap 3. A suitable hole in the anchoring strap I admits the head 4 ofthe rubber suction cup 5 so as to locate this head in the space betweenthe anchoring strap and the supporting strap with the cup properprojecting from the anchoring strap for attachment to a supportingsurface. Lugs 6, 6 are struck out from the anchoring strap to engage theback of the suction cup to provide increased frictional contact betweenthe suction cup and the anchoring strap to keep the holder from looselyturning on the suction cup.

The upper portion of the supporting strap 3, in order to properly locatethe anchoring strap 2 at the rear thereof, curves from the intermediateclamping section of the supporting strap. Similarly the lower portion ofthe supporting strap 3 curves rearwardly to provide for the formation ofthe loop 1 between the supporting strap 3 and the clamping tongue 8which is a continuation thereof and extends upwardly in front of thesupporting strap'in yielding contact with the clamping section of thesupporting strap and is normally held in this position by the loop 1.

The lower portion of the clamping tongue 8 has the same width'as thesupporting strap 3 until it reaches the'shoulders 9, 9 from which pointthe width of the tongue is reduced to the outer pointed end I!) thereof.Contact between the clamping tongue 8 and the clamping surface of thesupporting strap is thus confined to the reduced width of the clampingtongue except for thepointed end thereof which is located in front ofthe rearwardly curved upper portion of the supporting strap and thuspacedly projects upwardly in front of it.

The free pointed end of the clamping tongue is thus adapted to enterbetween the folded ends of a paper package when the bottom of thepackage is forced endwise over the pointed end of the tongue. Anypackage which is surrounded by transparent or decorative material willhave the pointed end of theclamping tongue penetrate therethru forengagement under the folded edges of the bottom of the package. The flatclamping tongue, in its engagement under the folded edges of thepackage, holds the bottom parallel to the surface of the supportingstrap so that it will slide thereover until the end of the bottomengages the shoulders 9 on the tongue to stop further movement of thepackage on the tongue. By limiting the movement of the package on thetongue the package is held in a predetermined elevation on the tongue inorderto cause the tongue to clamp the bottom of the package between itand the supporting surface of the supporting strap in order to hold thepackage in a sufiicient- 1y fixed position so that cigarettes may bewith drawn therefrom without displacing the package on the clampingtongue. For this purpose part of the top of the package is torn off asillustrated in Figures 1 and 2 to permit the withdrawal of one cigaretteat a time and allow one of the remaining cigarettes to take its place inthe package for removal therefrom.

A above described, the lower portion of the supporting strap curvesrearwardly so that when the holder is attached to a supporting surfaceby means of the rubber suction cup, the bottom of the supporting strapyieldingly rests against the supporting surface. A book of matches l2can thus be slipped under the bottom of the holder and held clamped inplace between it and the supportin surface while a cigarette package remains supported in front of the holder near the top thereof.

In the modification of the holder illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 thesupporting strap with its clamping tongue is supplemented by aserpentine shaped backing strap ll of flexible material such ascelluloid or similar material. This backing strap is preferably greaterin width than the supporting strap and its upper end is anchored in thechannel 13 provided at the top of the'supporting strap so that the upperforwardly curved portion of the backing strap is located in front of thesupporting strap. The supporting strap passes thru a slot l4intermediate the top and bottom of the holder and again thru a slot l5-near the bottom of the holder to have the bottom of the backing straprest in the loop l6 which connects the supporting strap and the clampingtongue. In this way the rearwardly curved lower portion of the backingstrap is located behind the supporting strap and is yieldingly heldagainst the supporting surface to which the holder is attached while theclamping tongue yieldingly rests against the forwardly curved upperportion of the same backing strap.

The modified construction of the holder thus provides for the clampingof an article between the clamping tongue and the backing strap and theclamping of another article betweenthe backing strap and the supportingsurface. These articles may be a cigarette package and a book of matchesas illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. However, other articles such asmaps,data sheets etc. may be held in place by the holder. In holding a map bymeans of the clamping tongue, the map may be angularly held behind thetongue and at any desired elevation so that the pointedend of the tonguewill operate as an indicator and point to a certain spot on the mapwhile holding the map in place. A. map held in an angular position, asabove described, is illustrated by the dotted lines I! in Figure 3.

I claim:

1. A holder having a flat supporting surface, a tongue of reduced widthin front of said supporting surface substantially parallel therewith andheld urged toward said supporting surface, a pointed end on said tonguefor forcible engagement into an article and clamping action. of theengaged portion of the article against the flat supporting surface, andmeans cooperating with the pointed end of said tongue for limiting theengagement of the tongue into the article and limiting clamping contactbetween the article and the supporting surface.

2. A combination holder comprising a substantially V shaped springmember made up of a supporting strap at the back and a clamping tongueat the front in yielding contact with said supporting strap, anchoringmeans at the top of said supporting strap adapted to urge the bottom ofsaid spring member into yielding clamping contact with a commonsupporting surface, and a pointed end on said clamping tongue projectingaway from said supporting strap above the yielding contact between thesupporting strap and theclamping tongue.

3. A combination holder embodying a substantially V shaped spring membermade up of a supporting strap providing the back and a clamping tongueproviding the front thereof, a supplemental clamping strap ofsubstantially serpentine outline anchored at the top and bottom of thesupporting strap with said supporting strap extending thru a hole in thesupplemental clamping strap substantially in the middle thereof and nearthe bottom thereof to have the curved upper portion of the clampingstrap yieldingly engage the clamping tongue at the front of the holderand have the curved lower portion of the clamping strap yieldinglyengage the extension of the supporting surface to which the supportingstrap is attached.

4. A combination holder as set forth in claim 3 in which said clampingtongue is pointed with the pointed end projecting from the clampingstrap above the yielding contact between them and in which said clampingtongue is provided with a supporting shoulder spaced from the pointedouter end thereof.

CLARENCE H. MANZLER.

